I have to say that the moment I saw Rae's post about her Washi Dress I fell in love with it and wanted to make one of my own! So, moments after she released the pattern, I was buying it.
I had high hopes of making one for an anniversary date night, although it didn't seem quite likely in the short amount of time between it's release date and our date night...None the less I ordered the fabric and washed it...and then it sat and sat...And then I printed out the pattern and made my muslin and then it too sat and sat...Does that happen to you too? I often find I am gung ho about doing something but then that awful step of tracing and cutting, etc seems to always slow me down!
Finally, this past week I taped the rest of the pattern up and traced and cut it....And, on Friday, the day before date night I cut into my fabric. I didn't really have any intention on actually finishing my dress in time, but then, by some miracle I had a few small pockets of time on Saturday in which I was able to get sewing! I did initially have some frustration over that darn runching!!! That wasn't surprising though since I have never done runching before. So when my test runching wasn't working over and over again I went to Rae's Washi page and looked over at Heather Ross' trouble shooting with elastic thread tutorial per Jill's suggestion to me...and after a bit of tinkering here and there and rewinding, etc...I got it!! YAY! Once that part was done it was really smooth sailing!
I love how everything comes together so smoothly. The pockets are awesome! The style of the sleeves is fantastic! And, the dress is super comfy, while also looking good.
I got my dress finished one hour before date night! YAY!
Here comes the part where I actually have to show you the dress ON me right?! (ugh, not a fan of me pictures)
I probably shouldn't admit this...but it had been over a year since our last date night! I joked that it's been such a long time since I've been out after dark, I'm like the opposite of a vampire. I'm such a homebody! Well, that, and it's really only been since sometime this summer where bedtime has consistently gone smoothly with Henry,it was time.
So off we went, me in my new dress...out to a fantastic dinner...and topped off with some seriously hot swing dancing!! Ahem, hot, as in, 100% humidity, dancing outside in a pavilion, summer thunderstorms, lots of people, hot! While we were definitely having fun, we were far from hot! :) In fact, I'm sure we looked pretty foolish, us and our swing dancing, but we did it all with lots of laughs and smiles on our faces and that's what counts, right!
Oh, and, I think the Washi Dress is perfect for swing dancing, in case you wondered ;)
Despite having made myself a muslin and liking the way that fit, I think that perhaps I could have made my dress a little bit smaller...I felt like it was a little bit too full in the skirt for me. And, while I do really love the U cutout of the original Washi Dress I opted to go sans U this time, partly because I had some serious time constraints and partly because I loved this version that Kristin did. I am planning on making at least a Washi tunic for fall, if not another dress as well...and I'll go with the U next time around to see how they compare.
The fabric is Storybook Lane, Floral Meadow by Ever Kelly. I loved the color combinations in this fabric and thought that it looked summery, but could also move smoothly into fall...as well as spring...ha ha, fooled me though, I didn't realize until I received it in the mail that it has snowflakes on it!! Oops, no biggy! I still love it, so much so that I wore it everyday this past weekend! I probably shouldn't have admitted that either! I did wash it sometime in the middle there!
I couldn't resist not wearing it to the farmer's market Sunday morning because as Violet put it, "it's a perfect farmer's market dress mama!" And she is right, with those deep pockets to hold your money, perfect!
Besides, had I not worn it, I wouldn't have been stopped by another mom (someone I didn't know) who said, "Excuse me, I'm sorry, I just wanted to tell you that I really like your dress, it's really cute!" Seriously, that just made my day! Of course, I did also get some kind compliments from friends the next day as well :) But, to be stopped on the street and told that my dress is cute is not at all something I am used to...so I guess now I've got good reason to make some more!
